Merry Christmas!

We hope Santa treated you well this year. We are definitely spoiled with all the love and support of family and friends.

It's been 37 weeks - almost 38 - and Kristi's still 1 cm dilated with a "pretty huge" belly according to those around her. Aren't you glad Kristi's not wearing the same white tank top anymore? ;) We'd really like it if the baby would stay tight for at least another 8 days (14 -16 would be preferable). He moves a lot and has lots of hiccups! Kristi also wakes up at least twice a night to potty and her right foot is swollen. Is that normal for only one foot to be swollen? Nonetheless, we're doing well and can't wait to see the little guy as much as you!

We still haven't decided on a name yet. Hopefully we'll be inspired when we see him! Happy Ho-Ho-Holidays!

Any day now...

...just so you can see the "scale" of my growth, I've worn the same top almost everytime. So, I guess you can say I've finally outgrown it. LOL. This is week 36 and I went to the doctor today. In case anyone's keeping track, total weight gain: 15.5 pounds. I'm also about 1 cm dilated. Hopefully baby hangs on for another 20-something days. I think we're ready -- just the house is a mess.





On the 15th of December, I went to get a fetal echocardiogram and came back with good news! Baby's heart looks and sounds fine. They usually like to do this procedure when the baby is 20-22 weeks old because baby isn't too big, so it was a little hard to truly give the "thumbs up," but he cooperated nicely. Hopefully he'll be that way outside of the womb too. :) Technology is amazing! The technician took a lot of measurements and was able to tell me that baby weighs 5 pounds 12 ounces. When the technician focused on the heart, she was able to look at the different chambers, especially connective tissue. She was also able to listen to the different beats of the heart just by pointing the cursor to different spots on the heart - some beats were high pitched others low.

Our son even showed off his family jewels. Auntie Diane commented that it looks big and Ryan replied, "Of course it is."





We were also able to see awesome images of baby's face. What will technology be able to do next?









Next doctor's appointment: Next week Wednesday! Another update then, hopefully.

Ego Check

We went to get our car seat fitting today. Ryan had installed the seat last weekend in about 15 minutes after browsing through both the car & car seat manuals. He said it was a piece of cake -- nothing to it -- he'd be very surprised if he were wrong and it wasn't installed properly. He was confident that the whole process was fool proof - put the seat in the middle, use the latch system and boom, it's done. The seat was level (according to the indicator) and felt securely in place.

On the drive to the "inspection," I asked Ryan if he felt hurt that we were doing this. He, of course, said yes, but knew that it was for the best. I joked that I'd drop him off somewhere and pick him up after... As soon as the inspector saw the installation, he saw two things wrong...but was very nice about it. He said that they were common mistakes and taught us A LOT about things to look for to make it safe in case we need to change cars. He tried all kinds of different scenarios to see which worked best in my Rav. Ryan got involved in helping to install it. I wish I had my camera...to remember how much effort it took TWO of them to get to sit right in the car.

I really hope we don't need to remove the base -- ever! The whole process took about an hour and I already don't remember all the little things to remember... Good thing it was very easy to schedule an appointment :)

P.S. Today starts week 35 -- I can't believe how fast time has flown by! I think we're ready :) I hope we're ready!